Cosmic Parade – Day 626

Saturn Jupiter Moon Antares – Photo: L. Weikel

Cosmic Parade

Oooh, I am so glad we waited until the sun set before taking our walk this evening. By shifting our usual trek time to more than an hour later than usual, we ended up experiencing an array of unexpected treats – including witnessing a veritable cosmic parade.

It was hot today. Perhaps not quite as oppressive as it was last week, but pretty darn close. I’ll admit that I made the mistake of watching Bill Barr’s testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, and today I paid attention to the news as the day unfolded. Witnessing what’s going on in the world, especially in our country, at the moment is enough to test even the most even-keeled person’s resolve to remain detached and chill.

And Karl and I have both been inexcusably indolent lately. We actually failed to take a walk two days in a row – both Monday and Tuesday – in spite of the fact that we desperately needed to walk the frustration off. So today we were both adamant that we wouldn’t capitulate to the temptation to stay at home in the air conditioning.

Not the Comet

As we rounded the third leg of our shorter journey this evening, the waxing moon was so brilliant, she was throwing stark moon shadows. Glancing up at her in the sky, I noticed a reasonably bright object slightly below and to the right of the moon. I wondered if it was a planet, so I whipped out my phone to check my Sky Guide app.

Actually, I discovered it was the star Antares, which is a red supergiant located at the heart of the constellation Scorpius. (I only know this courtesy of Sky Guide.)

But the cosmos had snagged my attention. The sky was growing darker and darker, making more and more of our ‘hatun chaskas’ (great Star brothers and sisters) visible.

One extremely bright object in the sky initially had us thinking it must be the lights on a plane approaching. Nope; it was Jupiter. I then excitedly realized that just to the left and a little below Jupiter was Saturn, not quite as bright as Jupiter, but definitely one of the brighter objects in the sky.

We were delighted to witness this parade of planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Moon – with Antares thrown in as a bonus. (I know the moon isn’t a planet.) I guess the better description is a cosmic parade.

Here is how Sky Guide displayed what we were observing:

If you get a chance to take a walk tomorrow night, I highly recommend that you get outside around 9:00 p.m. and take a look in the southwest sky. Oh my.

 

(T-485)